Page 2 of The Fifth Soul

“You are both annoying, yet a constant in my life.” I give him a cheeky smile he doesn’t return.

“That was quite poetic,” he deadpans.

“You don’t know poetry.”

“You don’t know what I read.”

His indignant tone doesn’t fool me. This is a game we play. Our banter always starts like this. Picking on each other is the way we function.

“I know you can’t read,” I say, “so it can’t be much.”

I smile at his scowl. Matias is so easy to rile up. This is why we never get bored with each other’s company.

“I can read. I don’t know why you keep telling people I can’t.”

I know he can read; I’ve witnessed him reading, but telling people he can’t always gets me a reaction.

“I think you memorized enough words to fake it.” His middle finger is in the air before I finish my sentence.

As he moves to our bags, the “I hate you,” under his breath is a bonus.

We look over the map one last time. Today is going to be the day we finally take action. The shift we chose is coming up. Right before sunrise, we’ll make our move. We agree to leave all items we don’t need in the forest until we return.

“Remember,” I say, “try not to use magic unless it is absolutely necessary.”

There’s only so much magic a person can do at one time before growing too tired.

Matias gives me a look that says, “Stop, you aren’t my mom.”

Magic isn’t as easy and careless as some people make it look. It takes practice and knowledge—something neither of us had much of in Fierno. It was expensive to get an education. Books are almost impossible to obtain. I would know. I tried to steal a few with no luck. Don’t even get me started on a teacher. Drunks in pubs and fellow thieves taught Matias and me the few spells we picked up through the years. Everything comes at a price. Knowledge is power, and no one will give power for free.

The only spells we learned are to help our skills as thieves. We can walk undetected, boost our strength, and even hold our breath. We have top-notch fighting skills, but that has nothing to do with magic and more to do with growing up in the streets. If you don’t learn to fight at a young age, you become prey. Prey is dead meat walking.

We wait for a guard to pass. There’s a four-minute gap until the next one begins his walk down this side. Listening to the sounds of the forest, we blend into the background with every step we take.

I waste no time climbing when I reach the wall. Using the tips of my fingers, I use the bricks as climbing stones, keeping my body as close to the wall as possible. This is the simple part. I try to move slowly but fluently, pointing my shoes at an angle to give myself the most grip. I don’t have to worry about Matias, he’s a professional. He’s even better than me, but I would never say it out loud. It would go straight to his head.

We needed to hurry, but if we aren’t careful, falling will surely attract attention. I only let myself take a break to stretch my hands when I reach a lintel beam on the top windows. My peripheral vision spots a figure turning the corner without a second to spare.

“Ready?” Matias asks me.

I close my eyes and turn my gift on. It feels like a switch inside my head that can turn on and off at my command. The gift is a blessing for the type of lifestyle Matias and I live. I open my eyes and give him a nod, confirming we are invisible to the world.

My numb fingers feel relief as I finally reach the top. Matias and I turn to each other. A shared smile is all we allow before the last hover. My muscles tremble as I let out a long breath and then inhale sharply. In one clumsy move, I follow Matias and throw myself over the edge. Not our finest moment.

The landing comes with a loud bang as several pots and buckets scatter around. We wince in unison as the noise only gets louder as it echoes in the room. My gift might make us invisible to the eye, but not to the touch.

“An echo?” Matias looks across the room as he gets up.

Only part of the nursery has a top cover. I guessed the open section was for plants that need direct sunlight, though I know close to nothing about plants. Something doesn’t add up as I dust my pants off and look around. This is no regular nursery.

“How big is this place?” I ask.

From the looks of it, the room must be enchanted. The towers are huge, but there’s no way my eyes aren’t seeing almost an endless number of rows of plants.

“Wow.” Matias stands mouth agape and wide eyed, mirroring my sentiment.

Neither of us have ever seen magic like this. We never knew places like this even existed. Living in Fierno was hard. We use our magic to survive. These people use it for luxury. The concept takes a minute to sink in.

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